We Don't Have Time for This
by LadyDragon1316
Summary: Serana thinks Kanith needs to be focusing on the right priorities. Too bad Kanith has her own priorities and what seems to be the luck of Nocturnal as well.


**This is just a little ficlet that I came up with after a funny happenstance during game play.**

"Kanith, we don't have the time for this."

The Redguard tossed a look over her shoulder as the two companions ascended the last steps back out into the Pale's brutal northern weather. "What do you mean we don't have time for this?"

Serana couldn't help but massage her forehead, trying to soothe the latest portion of aggravation that her companion was dealing to her. "My father means to vanquish the sun and make himself lord over the land. We don't know what he's up to, what his plans are or how close he is to his goal!"

"And?" The question was asked so quizzically that the vampire was tempted to wrap her hands around the Kanith's throat.

"And we have the two Elder Scrolls we need. Let's just get them back to Dexion so we can find Auriel's Bow before my father does and save the world."

The Redguard looked over her shoulder and gave Serana one of her aggravatingly self-certain smiles. "Soooooon."

They came out of the Dwemer ruin into a bright high noon that reflected itself on the endless expanses of snow. Serana growled and yanked her hood over her head, the light further souring her mood. "What is wrong with you? Why are we even going back to Decimus? We have the scroll. We don't need to talk to him anymore."

Kanith stopped and turned to the vampire, looking utterly bewildered by her suggestion. "Because we said we would."

Serana halted as well and her head dropped guiltily. Kanith was an inigma. She acted based on her own moral code, whether it was helping or hurting people. Stealing, killing, defending, questing, or even just making a delivery. But keeping one's word was one of her highest morals. The way she looked at Serana now for suggesting they do otherwise actually made the immortal feel ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry," Serana replied, still irritated but none-the-less abashed. "It's just that this is the end of the world, we're talking about. Couldn't we go back to Decimus _after_ we've dealt with my father?"

Kanith sighed with a smile, Serana's affront completely forgotten. Another of her almost innocent traits: the ability to forgive and forget almost instantaneously. "If you're so worried, then-" The woman dropped one shoulder and whipped her pack around in front of her. "Here." She reached in and pulled out the precious item they had spent three long days in Blackreach retrieving: the Dragon Elder Scroll. "Take that and the Blood Scroll back to Fort Dawnguard and see what Dexion can get out of them. Decimus doesn't need them. Just the Lexicon. I'll go finish off with him and meet you back at the fort."

Serana did not take the scroll. "You must be joking. You want me to take two Elder Scrolls back to Fort Dawnguard alone?"

"What?" Kanith asked, her head cocked like a confused pup. "Do you think you won't make it on your own?"

"I think that Isran hates me and wants any excuse to kill me. Why do you think I've been staying with you? You're the only one of them who's given me the slightest amount of trust. If I show up without you and with two Elder Scrolls, I'm more than certain Isran will say I killed you and then kill _me_ on the spot!"

"Hm..." The Redguard puzzled much harder than it should have taken to understand. "I guess I understand. But I'm going to go talk to Decimus. We're up here anyway."

With that she turned down the path, securing the scroll back in her pack and the pack back onto her shoulders without slowing or missing a pace. Serana exhaled exaggeratedly and followed.

XXX

"We don't have time for this," Serana grumbled behind her companion who was kneeling beside a mer body.

"I think I heard you say that before," Kanith teased, drawing the end of the syringe back, filling the glass tube with Bosmer blood.

Serana groaned. "I thought we were just going to talk to Decimus."

"And we did. And now we're helping him with one more thing."

"But why? This isn't so hard. So why doesn't he do it?"

Kanith put the syringe back into the injector and stowed it away. "If it's not so hard, then it won't take us any time at all to do it. Besides, we encountered most of them right here while we were going for the scroll. You were paying attention as we found the bodies of the expedition that came in here." She lifted one hand and began to count them off. "Altmer, Bosmer, Orsimer. Not to mention all the Falmer around. It's not like we have to go searching. They're here already. And what's one more day before we head back to the Fort."

Serana continued to grumble as they walked further into the ruin. "Fine. You're in charge. Whatever. But if we come out of this ruin and the sun is dark, I'm going to tell all of Skyrim it was your fault."

Kanith just laughed in the face of the dire threat against the sun and they kept walking.

XXX

"So now what?" Serana demanded. They were back out in the sun beaten snow, leaving the Dwemer ruin of Alftand for the second time, only now with four syringes of blood as their prize instead of an additional Elder Scroll. But with the sun overhead, her mood was darkening.

"We head back to Decimus," was the reply.

The vampire threw her hands to the sky. "We're one blood type short! Dunmer. There was no Dunmer in there. He said we needed all five blood types."

"I know."

Serana gaped and ground her teeth. "So what? We're going back with the job part done? I thought you promised him you'd get him what he needed. I thought that was the whole point of why we're still wasting our time up here."

"It is."

Serana fell completely silent and stopped in her tracks. Kanith kept walking without showing much concern.

The vampire recovered herself and hurried to catch up. "So what? We're going to just walk up to Winterhold and ask if there's a Dunmer willing to give up some blood to open a Dwemer lockbox?"

"Hm..." Kanith looked thoughtful. "We might be able to do that? I don't remember seeing any Dunmer around the town. Maybe there are some in the College. We could ask."

Serana gaped again. "You don't even have a plan? I get that you did this because you knew where to find most of the blood samples. But most isn't enough for this, right? You need to bring all of them. How do you plan on getting Dunmer blood, then? They're not exactly common on the mainland. Do you want to go all the way to Solstheim and ask someone if they'll give you some blood? Or are you just going to go into every cave and ruin, risking our necks until you find one measly-"

"Serana, you really need to relax."

"Relax?! My father is about to destroy the sun and plunge the whole world into darkness. And instead of taking that seriously, you're about to have us roaming the countryside looking for one Dunmer to help one crazy old man open one stupid Dwemer lockbox that may or may not hold... You can't really think there's a god's heart in there, can you? Decimus is insane."

Kanith patted her companion's shoulder. "Of course I know he's insane. But the line between insane and genius is very, very thin. Besides, maybe what's in the box will help us fight Harkon. You never know."

Serana exhaled hard. "But we have to open the thing first. Which brings us back to the Dunmer blood? How long are you going to have us wandering around looking for someone willing to give us their blood? I know you. You'll have us doing anything except what's actually important."

The Redguard laughed gently. "Serana, one thing you need to learn to accept is that everything works out in the end."

"That's what you're going with? Everything works out?"

"Mm-hm. Everything works out."

The vampire blinked in disbelief. "...My father is about to destroy the sun. Vampires are going to be able to go anywhere and do anything they like...And you're content knowing that 'everything works out'?"

"That's right," Kanith replied with a smile.

There was a very long pregnant silence between them as they walked. "That...That has got to be the stupidest, most ignorant, undeveloped mentality that I have every-!"

From the drift ahead of them someone leapt out and brandished a knife at the two women, cutting off the beginning of Serana's tirade. "Alright, hand over your valuables. Or I'll gut you like a fish!"

Kanith blinked at the Dunmer thief accosting them, then looked meaningfully at her companion. Serana's face went from blank to petulant in an instant as Kanith's faith played itself out. But rather than acknowledge the good fortune laid in front of them, she crossed her arms in a huff and glared back. "Well? Are you going to do it or are you going to make me?"

Kanith grinned and reached for the hilt of her sword as she addressed the thief. "What would you say to holding still while I extract some of your blood?"

Ten minutes later the two women were walking toward the sea with a full set of syringes safety tucked way.

"See," Kanith smirked. "Everything works-"

"Shut up," Serana snapped, still pouting as the sun set over the snow to their left.

**Yeah. During Discerning the Transmundane when I was collecting blood for Decimus, I remembered that Alftand's expedition crew took care of most of them. Once I'd collected it all, I came out of the ruin and prepared myself for a lengthly search through bandit camps until I found a Dunmer before- "Hand over your valuables, or I'll gut you like a fish!"**

**"...Well, hello there."  
**

**Thanks for reading. If you guys like Kanith, maybe I'll add a few more to this as they occur to me. We all know how easy it is to waste time in Skyrim.**


End file.
